Teaching and Mentorship

Royal Ontario Museum Palaeohistology Workshop

Since its origination in 2013 and until my graduation in Fall 2017, I assisted in the organization and implementation of this yearly workshop, which includes three days of lectures and hands-on thin section preparation. The workshop instructs students on the theory and methodologies behind the generation of palaeohistological thin sections. I act as an instructor during the lecture and hands-on portions of the workshop. My lectures focus on bone biology and skeletochronological methods, and on ways to limit subjectivity in osteohistological analyses.

Geometric Morphometrics Workshop

In December 2015, fellow PhD student Derek Larson and I organized and led a workshop focused on the understanding and use of geometric morphometric analyses. This workshop instructed 8 students from a range of backgrounds (undergraduate, graduate) and study interests. Lectures and discussions focused on the theoretical background underlying morphometrics, the advantages and drawbacks to different morphometric methods. Practical instruction included hands-on data collection, and R coding to carry out multiple geometric morphometric analyses using multiple datasets and different analytical techniques (including Procrustes analysis, PCA, landmark-based data, semi-landmark data, deformation grid generation and comparisons, etc).

Student Mentorship & Supervision

As a senior graduate student in the Evans lab at the University of Toronto, I have assisted in the mentoring of junior graduate students by orientating them with the University and the Royal Ontario Museum, assisting them in learning relevant methods of data acquisition, and discussing their research data.

I have also assisted in the supervision of several undergraduate student projects. In most cases this involves assisting the students in developing their hypotheses, providing literature pertinent to their projects, teaching them relevent methods, and discussing their research results prior to more formal progress meetings with Dr. Evans.

Teaching Assistant

I started working as a teaching assistant in my 3rd year of undergraduate, and have continued to do so throughout my Ph.D. program. I have taught a variety of courses, most of which have emphasized experiential learning through hands-on lab or field based exercises.

The courses I have taught (or am currently teaching) are listed here:

Diversity of Mammals (1x, taught labs, University of Toronto)

Vertebrate Palaeontology (2x, designed and taught labs, University of Toronto)

Vertebrate Diversity (5x, designed and taught labs, University of Toronto)

Workshops and Professional Development

I have taken part in a number of workshops and training sessions to improve my abilities as a researcher and instructor.

FossilWorks Intensive Workshop in Analytical Paleobiology, A 5-week workshop in June-July of 2014 taught by John Alroy, Michal Kowalewski, Alistair Evans, and Graeme Lloyd and held at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Involved detailed instruction on the understanding and implementation of quantitative methods using the R programming language. Topics covered in this training include community palaeoecology, diversity estimation, geometric morphometrics, and phylogenetic analyses.

Teaching Fundamentals (TF) certificate awarded after completing a series of teaching workshops through the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation at the University of Toronto. Workshops completed as part of TF certificate program:

Preparing your teaching dossier

Pedagogy 101

Looking ahead: documenting teaching & demonstrating effectiveness

Fostering academic integrity: noble intentions & sticky situations

Active learning methods in science & engineering

Identifying your transferable skills

Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Student Industry Field Trip (SIFT), A 2-week training course in May 2009. One student per participating university was selected, and engaged in theoretical and practical (both lab and field based) exercises focused on imparting knowledge and skills needed for work in the petroleum industry, or more generally in petroleum geology.

I have training in the operation of the following analytical, preparatory, and field techniques:

Laser ablation stable isotopic analyses

Bulk sample stable isotopic analyses

Vertebrate osteohistological thin section preparation and imaging

linear and geometric morphometric analyses

Casting and moulding of fossil specimens

Screen-washing and size-separation of vertebrate microfossil site material

Palaeontological field-mapping and quarry excavation

Stratigraphic section measurement

I also have the following certifications:

G-class Ontario Drivers Licence

Canadian Red-Cross Wilderness First-Aid

Canadian Firearms Safety Course + Possession and Acquisition Licence

Pleasure Craft Operators Card

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